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Editor's Note: This report is based on survey data from November 2024 that was published in December 2024. This is the most recent data available. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Last month, the national unemployment rate rose to 4.2% (up one-tenth of a percentage point), but only 6 states saw their state-level unemployment go up while one state saw a decrease in unemployment and all the rest saw no significant change in state employment levels.
US employers added more than a quarter of a million jobs at the same time, but only 4 states plus Washington DC recorded a net increase in payroll figures, while the remaining 46 states saw no noteworthy change over the month.
Below is the breakdown of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) market employment summary for October 2024.
Nevada had the highest unemployment rate last month at 5.7%, which is up almost one-tenth of a point over the month and about four-tenths of a point over the last year.
Washington DC has the next highest unemployment rate at 5.6%, followed by California at 5.4% and Illinois at 5.3% unemployment.
Those are the only states that currently have unemployment rates above the national average of 4.2%, with Idaho having the next highest unemployment rate at 3.7%.
Last month, 6 states recorded a higher unemployment rate than the month before, led by Alabama, Maine, and Mississippi, which all saw their unemployment rates climb from 2.9% to 3.1% over the course of the month. Iowa (now 3.1%), Kansas (now 3.5%), and Vermont (now 2.4%) all saw the unemployment rates in their states increase by 0.1%.
Over the last year, 26 states have experienced rising unemployment, with the largest percentage increases going to South Carolina (plus 1.8%), Rhode Island (plus 1.4%), and Colorado (plus 1.0%).
South Dakota is now 1 month shy of hitting the 1-year mark of consecutive months with the lowest unemployment rate among states - this month holding steady month-to-month at 1.9%.
The next lowest unemployment rate was 2.4% - recorded by both North Dakota and Vermont - which is more than half of a percentage point above South Dakota’s level, which further reinforces just how strong South Dakota’s labor market has been.
Delaware was the only state that experienced a net reduction in unemployment over the month, dropping one-tenth of a point from 4.0% to 3.9%.
Over the last 12 months, 6 states have recorded a net decrease in unemployment, but the largest reduction by far occurred in Connecticut where unemployment fell by 1.2% over the last year, followed by Wisconsin and Arizona, which each fell by only half a point each.
No state recorded net job losses over the last month or the last year.
Employers in the state of Florida added more net jobs last month than any other state, increasing payrolls by more than 60 thousand, while Washington state had the next largest gain, adding a little more than 30 thousand net jobs over the month.
Washington also had the largest percentage gain, increasing their workforce by 0.9%, followed by Alaska and Washington DC at 0.7% each, Florida at 0.6%, and Kansas at plus 0.5%.
Over the last year, 33 states have recorded statistically significant increases in net jobs.
Texas and California had the largest net increase in raw job figures at about 274 thousand and 208 thousand, respectively, while Idaho had the largest percentage growth (3.1%) followed by Alaska (2.8%), Missouri (2.7%), and Montana (2.4%).
Not much has changed on the surface, but several external factors are in flux that could significantly shift the economic outlook over the coming months (and years) depending upon how they resolve.
The current report is the third to last such dataset that will be compiled by the outgoing Biden administration, and there are still a number of uncertainties that remain about the priorities of the incoming administration and how the transfer of power will impact the economy and labor market, both in the short and long term.
While Congress was able to avert a government shutdown at the end of last week by passing a last-minute continuing resolution, that bill will only keep the government funded for a couple of months through the middle of March when Republicans will control all 3 branches of the federal government, and how they elect to respond to current inter and intra party disputes will have significant ramifications outside of DC, of course.
The end of last week also brought another quarter-point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve, but that news wasn’t entirely well-received given that it was accompanied by statements from Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicating the Fed will probably only cut another half point from interest rates over the course of 2025, which is half of what many analysts were expecting.
The stock market ended the week on an upturn due to better-than-expected inflation data, but that upturn followed nearly 2 weeks of consecutive losses punctuated by an almost 3% drop on the day of the Fed’s announcement, and while the markets are up close to 10% over the last 6 months, they are down more than 2% over the week/month.
While there are certainly many questions up in the air about how the economic road ahead will unfold, we are unlikely to get many meaningful answers for at least another month and likely more.
Looking for more exclusive content? Check out the Mployer blog.
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